PLP support slipping?

July 3, 2005

Dear Sir,

One only has to listen daily to the talk show on both of our radio stations ? BBC and VSB to hear the dissatisfaction expressed by a great many Bermudians about the way Government is running the country, including the voices of many die hard PLP supporters.

It?s not only those calling into the radio station talk shows but many in the streets as well.

As a daily scanner of letters to the editor in , I don?t see as many letters supporting the performance of Government as previously and if anyone doesn?t think that all the dissatisfaction one hears about the performance of Government over the radio talk shows and from many people on the street will not have an effect on the outcome of a general election, they better think again. So I?m telling the PLP, the party that I have always supported, that they better get their act together before the next general election.

Yacht ruined my day

July 6, 2005

Dear Sir,

This letter is directed to the skipper of the cabin cruiser ?Brightside?.

Thanks for spoiling my Queen?s Birthday holiday on Monday, June 13th.

You had no consideration for the yachts, or pleasure craft anchored off in St. George?s Harbour when you sped along near Marginal Wharf in the evening time, moving at an unacceptable speed out of the harbour.

My husband and I were relaxing on our 25-foot craft until the massive waves caused by your boat made me scramble to my feet trying to balance myself. My boat rocked something awful, causing one of the large drawers in the cabin to fall out onto the floor, also my large water jug fell onto the floor and made a mess.

Luckily we weren?t in the cabin at the time or we may have gotten hurt. My night was spoiled as I changed my mind about spending the night in the harbour.

I understand that another pleasure craft had problems from the swells of your boat, one of the male passengers fell and broke his hip. Shame on you for being so thoughtless.

WATCHING

Paget

Rethink hospital plan

June 23, 2005

Dear Sir,

It seems astonishing after all the recent Government talk about sustainable development that the same Government should propose building a new hospital on protected green space, still worse on the Botanical Gardens.

An editorial and number of perceptive letters objecting to these proposals have already been written, all of them making good and valid points and useful suggestions.

No one, however, has commented on the enormous, sprawling ?footprint? of the proposed new hospital.

There are perfectly good, indeed famous hospitals in New York and other cities that don?t spread out over acres and acres of ground. If the new hospital were designed to cover half as much ground and have twice as many storeys, much of the siting problem and a little of the cost would be reduced.

If it were then built at the lower, northern end of Point Finger Road at least some of the problems associated with pulling down the old hospital, now mainly the Ministry of Education that could sensibly be moved to the old Berkeley building, would be resolved. The old Springfield property has already been acquired and the land is available.

A taller building might be more visually obtrusive, but not nearly as obtrusive as a huge building built on our precious open space. The location is tried and true.

The need to destroy early the parts of the old1920 hospital still needed by the current hospital would thus be substantially reduced.

The view up the harbour from patients? rooms would be spectacular. It may be more expensive to contain the new hospital within the perimeter of its predecessors in the short term, but the loss of irreplaceable green space would, in the long term, be very much worse.

What Government is saying, in essence, is that green space has no value.

AL EASTMOND

Devonshire

Behind the violence

July 5, 2005

Dear Sir,

What is the cause of the increase in violence on the streets and now seas of Bermuda? In the 4th July 2005 edition of the we see the cause of violence in our community, the effect of violence in our community and the excuse for violence in our community ? all one needs to do is read between the lines.

I begin with one of the underlying causes and news that 51 percent of students who started at CedarBridge and 39 per cent of students who started at Berkeley last September failed to graduate.

Thus, on average, 45 percent of pubic school students did not graduate this year. This is an appalling statistic and one that the Government should be immensely embarrassed about, particularly since most publicly educated children are black. The result of such poor educational standards and failure by a vast minority of our young students to succeed is without a doubt a major cause in the increase in violence. Those students that have graduated are to be congratulated wholeheartedly and encouraged to be even more successful.

Mr. Editor, it is quite clear that an increasing number of Bermuda?s young publicly educated students feel the need to identify with gangland culture. Why is this? Mr. Editor it is in my opinion due to a failure by the Ministry of Education to adequately address the problem of violence and more importantly a failure by the Island?s public schools to actually educate our young people and teach them the everyday life skills and business awareness required in Bermuda today, as demonstrated by the above statistics.

Simply put, uneducated, apathetic and bored young people will more likely than not turn to violence to vent their frustration with the system that has failed them. In turn, the disenfranchised youth become part of a subculture of ?gangster violence?.

In the meantime, Government Ministers, instead of making sincere efforts to boost funding and resources for our Island?s schools, bluster on about ?economic disparity? between blacks and whites and blame the failure by some blacks to participate in Bermuda?s economic success on a ?back to the plantation mentality? (as recently stated by a Government Minister).

The blaming of whites for what is surely a failure by the Government to properly educate young black students is hopefully transparent, but in some instances becomes the excuse for a minority of young people (often young black males) to turn to violence.

Mr. Editor, Government blaming of whites for past injustices whilst ignoring the apparent wretched state of the public education system and the failure to adequately invest in the future of young people at an early age is one of the primary causes of violence in the community (admittedly not the only cause).

The failure by the public education system to educate ultimately means less blacks in business, increasing numbers of black males in prison and a greater disparity between blacks and whites in the economy.

Mr. Editor, it is clear that a properly funded public education system (with less bureaucratic red tape) in tandem with a Government funded and suitably supported extra curricular activity network would translate into a reduction in violence and greater opportunities for blacks in Bermuda?s economic success.

Mr. Editor, the current Government has had seven years in which to decrease economic inequality. During that time, educational standards have fallen, violent crime has risen and the gap between rich and poor has increased. By my calculation most of the self-styled gangsters were probably about twelve or thirteen years old when the current Government first came to power.

Is it to be the legacy of the Government ? a ?New Bermuda? gripped by fear due to an explosion in gang-related violence?

It is clear that the Government must shoulder at least some of the blame for the increase in violence and the failure by many young people to enjoy the fruits of Bermuda?s economic success to which they are entitled.